Throughout the course of his Dragon Ball career, Goku has proven that he can beat practically any fighter who challenges him, and now that the Saiyan warrior has unlocked the god-like form of Ultra Instinct, he has become even more unbeatable. However, in the early chapters of Dragon Ball there existed a fighter that even Goku couldn’t beat: the iconic movie monster Dracula.

Goku made his first appearance in Dragon Ball Chapter 1 by Akira Toriyama, and upon his debut readers were immediately made aware of his awesome strength compared to that of a regular human. In the first chapter alone, Goku traverses a treacherous jungle, kills and eats the most dangerous animals out of equal parts fun and necessity, and even survives being shot in the head. Since then, Goku only proves to be even more impressive with every passing chapter as he nearly wins a world martial arts tournament, takes down an entire fascist organization, and masters a ki blast technique that is supposed to take decades to even attempt. However, while fighting in a tournament that was seemingly concocted in hell, fans can say with confidence that Goku may not have survived an encounter with one vampiric opponent.

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In Dragon Ball Chapter 99 by Akira Toriyama, Goku, Krillin, and the other Z Fighters are forced into a terrifying tournament by Fortuneteller Baba. The adventurers went to Baba in the hopes that she could help them locate a lost Dragon Ball, but they weren’t able to afford the high price of her services. So, Baba gives them a chance to earn her help by defeating five of her otherworldly fighters in a dangerous tournament–and the first of her fighters is a vampire named Dracula-Man. The Z Fighters decide that Krillin should be the first to fight, and he does so with his head held high–unfortunately, that wasn’t the best course of action. In a matter of moments after the round began, Dracula buried his fangs into Krillin’s head and sucked the blood out of him until Krillin was forced to give up and return to his team having been defeated. So, next up for the Z Fighters was the shapeshifter Puar who was able to defeat Dracula-Man by transforming into an echidna the second before he attacked. This maneuver forced Dracula-Man to bite down on Puar’s needles and experience so much pain that he lost, granting the Z Fighters victory.

Goku couldn't beat Dragon Ball's Dracula.

As it stood at this point in Dragon Ball continuity, Goku and Krillin were nearly equally matched in terms of strength, fighting ability, and weaknesses. In this chapter, it was clear that Dracula-Man can dodge any attack someone throws at him by transforming into a bat and moving too quickly to be hit. The villain then sneaks up on his opponent and bites them, weakening them by draining their blood. Puar defeated Dracula-Man by transforming into an echidna, but Krillin and Goku don't have the ability to shapeshift so they would be left facing the sharp end of Dracula’s fangs without any way of combating him.

Obviously in the current state of Goku’s power level as it stands in Dragon Ball Super, the Saiyan could obliterate Dracula-Man with little effort. However, when Goku and his team faced off against the vampire, Krillin’s battle with Dracula-Man proved that Goku wouldn’t have been able to do much better since Krillin and Goku were neck-and-neck in terms of their power levels. Plus, Goku doesn’t have the ability to shapeshift which is how the vampire was ultimately defeated. Since he didn’t have the power necessary to beat this terrifying foe and was more vulnerable to the vampire’s blood-sucking attack at that time in his life, it becomes clear that Dragon Ball's Dracula was a villain even Goku couldn’t beat when he first laid eyes on the iconic horror movie monster.

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